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A Long Road to Success: Celebrating Gran Turismo
A Long Road to Success: Celebrating Gran Turismo
Back in the 1990s, most prominent racing games were largely arcade affairs. Players enjoyed the experience of games like Cruis’n USA and Ridge Racer and even Need for Speed II dropped the more realistic simulation of the original in favor of a more arcade-styled gameplay system. It’s safe to say there were very few games going the racing sim route outside of the NASCAR titles licensed for development by Electronic Arts. In 1997, that changed when a new game hit the scene that was about to start a franchise and revolutionize the hybridization of arcade elements and realistic racing simulation, not to mention become one of the most popular PlayStation games of all time. Today, we celebrate the arrival of the original Gran Turismo on North American shelves in 1998.
Killing Gods and Taking Revenge: A Celebration of God of War
Killing Gods and Taking Revenge: A Celebration of God of War
Some of gaming’s heaviest icons arrived early and have stayed late into the current day. Other companies attempted to field icons in hope of catching on like the Marios, Sonics, or Master Chiefs only to fade into obscurity. Kratos is an icon that arrived late to the party and made his presence known, riding to fame on the backs of dead Olympian Gods and Titans in his bloodthirsty quest for revenge. Since its release, God of War has spawned numerous sequels, spin-offs and media outside of video games. The games are regular fixtures in Top 10 lists and Game of the Year conversations and all of it began with the original release of God of War back in 2005.
Horrible on Hoth, Subpar on Sullust: My Life in Star Wars Battlefront
Horrible on Hoth, Subpar on Sullust: My Life in Star Wars Battlefront
I've often thought about what it would be like to actually take part in the Battle of Hoth. In The Empire Strikes Back, we saw only a glimpse of the chaos that ensued once the Imperial Army found the Rebel base on the icy planet, and didn't truly get an idea of the conflict that broke out. It makes sense considering the films follow such a small cast of characters, and can't just spend hours on showing the ins and outs of one space battle. That's why I was excited to dive head first the galactic civil war with Star Wars Battlefront later this year. At least, until I played a little bit of the beta this week at New York Comic Con. Now, don't take that to mean that I've lost all my interest. Quite the opposite, in fact. I'm just not all that interested in living out the Battle of Hoth from the Rebel perspective anymore. While the films and comics and books have always talked about the strength and power of the Imperial side of the conflict, you don't truly grasp how daunting a task it must have been for the Rebel Alliance to pull out such tremendous victories until you're planted firmly in their boots. It's impressive that any of the ships escaping Hoth made it out of there alive, especially if any of those Rebel troopers fought as poorly as I did.

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